Ep006: Grief, Race, Healing, and the Model Minority Myth Artwork

Laugh At The Odds Podcast with Heidi & Dave

“We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.” Named after this Charles Bukowski quote on the meaning of life, "Laugh at the Odds" is a he said/she said podcast about surviving the loss of a partner or spouse through the lens of a young, interracial widowed couple. Heidi and Dave are two halves of a widowed couple, having lost Arnel in 2014 and Bianca in 2017, respectively. In this podcast, we offer our perspectives as two young widows who individually found joy and strength post-loss, and unexpectedly found love with each other after two years of platonic friendship. We speak with other widows and widowers who are writers, counselors, solo parents, comedians, COVID warriors, dancers, singers, entrepreneurs, and even self-proclaimed “wid-hos.” Dave is Dada to a sardonic and intelligent six-year-old boy, Benji, and Heidi is Momma to two adopted mini schnauzers, Ziggy and Xena. Together they raise and shuttle their family between their two homes in New Jersey.

All Episodes

Laugh At The Odds Podcast with Heidi & Dave

Ep006: Grief, Race, Healing, and the Model Minority Myth

April 04, 2021 • Heidi & Dave • Season 1 • Episode 6

In Episode 6 of Laugh at the Odds Podcast with Heidi and Dave, we start our mini-series on grief and race, and how the latter impacts various ethnic and racial groups differently. This week, we focus on how Asians and Asian Americans grieve, seek help, and heal from their losses.

We also talk about the model minority myth, and how this notion and the expectations thrust upon us Asians are detrimental to not just our healing and recovery from grief as widows, but also in our everyday lives, particularly in how we seek help and report crimes in light of the increased violence that’s now finally being reported at a national and even international scale

Search for Laugh at the Odds Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast, or your favorite podcast player.

ABOUT OUR GUESTS:

Allie Espanto-Mock, 51, was widowed in 2007 when her husband Stan was killed in a motorcycle accident. Rooted in Oakland, California and is the solo parent of her 2 daughters 18 and 21. Having worked in the Social Services field for over 25 years, she is ready to be an empty nester, travel and enjoy life with no regrets.

Lynn Nguyen was widowed from her late husband Can in 2015. She currently works as a project manager in IT Finance and recently relocated from Texas to beautiful Clearwater, Florida, where she raises her two boys now aged 5 and 10 and catches sunsets whenever they can.

Heidi Gutierrez joined this club that nobody wants to join, back in 2014, when her husband Arnel passed from a pulmonary embolism while cycling near their home in Scotch Plains, NJ. Today, she is surrounded by many friends in and outside the widowed community, including her new family consisting of Dave, Benji, and her two fur babies, Ziggy and Xena.

ABOUT LAUGH AT THE ODDS:

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/LaughAtTheOddsPodcastWithHeidiDave
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/laughattheoddspodcast
LINKTREE: https://linktr.ee/LaughAtTheOddsPodcast
BUY AS A COFFEE: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/laughattheodds